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The Canterbury Tales - Digital

"Experts from The University of Manchester's John Rylands Library are to spend four days at a beautiful seventeenth century mansion to capture its world famous Canterbury Tales manuscript on camera ...

Published on 30 March 2010

Canterbury Tales manuscript to be digitized

“Experts from The University of Manchester's John Rylands Library are to spend four days at a beautiful seventeenth century mansion to capture its world famous Canterbury Tales manuscript on camera. ... It is part of a 18-month project - funded by JISC - which showcases The University of Manchester as one of the country's leading centres for digitisation of rare books, manuscripts and archives. The Petworth edition of the famous stories was hand written between 1420 and 1450, just a few years after they were first conceived by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Tales relate a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims to create an ironic picture of 14th century English life. It is thought the manuscript has been at Petworth for at least four hundred years. ... Mark Purcell, Libraries Curator for the National Trust said: "The Petworth Chaucer manuscript is one of the most important books in the possession of the Trust.” It is believed to have been written in England ca.1420-1430, perhaps for the 3rd Earl of Northumberland (1421-1461) or for the 2nd Earl (1394-1455), who was married to Eleanor Neville, Chaucer’s grand-niece.”

The images will be made available on-line as part of the John Ryland’s Library’s Medieval Collection. The Library holds outstanding collections of rare books, manuscripts and archives from the Middle Ages, including history, theology, art, literature, language, and the history of science. In October 2008 a project started to digitise and describe over 40 Middle English manuscripts, comprising Chaucher’s Canterbury Tales , the Wycliffe Bible and a richly illuminated copy of John Lydgate's poem The Siege of Troy.

Read the whole article “Canterbury Tales manuscript to be digitized” in The Medieval News